Follow by Email

Followers

Grab My Blinkie

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Synopsis:Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what's it's like to literally lose your mind...

Reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People and The Curious Incident of the Dogin the Night-time, Still Alice packs a powerful emotional punch and marks the arrival of a strong new voice in fiction.

My Review:Still Alice is just amazing. I couldn't read it fast enough. It is a very powerful book. My MMROC Book Club was talking about it (most of the ladies had read it) and I decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did. The story has really stuck with me and I can't get Alice or her family out of my head (or my heart). I think anyone and everyone would learn something from this book about Alzheimer's disease. Still Alice is so much more though. You will learn about early onset Alzheimer's, but you will also read a beautifully written story from Alice's point of view. Make sure you have some tissue on hand, as I guarantee you will cry. Still Alice is going on my top 10 favorite books. It is just that good. I must read Lisa Genova's second book, Left Neglect.

Meet the Author:Lisa Genova graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and DementiaUSA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's association. She lives with her husband and two children in Cape Cod.Still Aliceis her first novel.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Synopsis:As she approached her fiftieth birthday, Tracey Jackson found herself bombarded by a catchphrase on everyone’s lips: “Fifty is the new thirty.” With a comedy writer’s training and a screenwriter’s eye for detail, Jackson skewers that particular myth with a hilarious, bare-knuckled, and ultimately practical appraisal of what middle age really means today. Jackson not only faces the elephant in the room, she puts it under a (very large) microscope, confronting the truth about death, work, and sex in what the French call the “third age.”

My Review: Tracey Jackson has an amazing talent for writing. Between a Rock and a Hot Place is too funny and yet sadly so true. I was reminded of Jenny McCarthy's book on pregnancy, child birth and first year of motherhood. The books were spot on and topics that no one wants to talk about! Tracey Jackson does the same thing....brooches subjects about being a "fifties" woman. My favorite chapter was Chapter 3, Sex, Estrogen, and Not So Much Rock and Roll. I am still in shock! Tracey is so open about herself. In between laughing so hard, I kept thinking I am so, so doomed. I am in my mid-forties with young children and always have at least one them in my bed.....so, I am just saying there isn't a whole lot of Rock and Roll going on now. Tracey, seriously, I only have five years for Rock and Roll?

I also really liked Chapter 5, If She's Fifty, Chances Are Alice Doesn't Work Here Anymore. At thirty, I thought us women had come such a long way (and I still believe that), but we also have such a long way to go. Chapter 5 confirmed that for me and it scares me silly. I also believe that some careers/areas of specialization are hit harder than others. It sets me in a panic to think that in 5 years, I could have a hard time landing a job, if I was unemployed.

Other favorites were Chapter 7, You Don't Look Fifty and Chapter 9, Maddening Men. They were both "laugh out loud" chapters. The entire book is filled with humor and accurate description of what it means to be "fifty" today. As Martha Stewart said, "if you're thirty, you should read this book; if you're forty, you should read this book; if you're fifty, you should definitely ready this book." Couldn't have said it better myself!

Author: A screenwriter for seventeen years, Tracey Jackson has written and sold films to all the major studios; her most recent writing credits include Confession of a Shopaholic and Lucky Ducks, a lecture-length documentary that she also produced and directed. She blogs on her own website and for the Huffington Post. She lives in New York City with her husband, Glenn Horowitz, and two daughters.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Thanks to Leeswammes for hosting another great Literary Giveaway Blog Hop!!! There are lots of other bloggers participating in the hop (see the links below).

My Giveaway.....A book of your choice up to $15 (book or e-book).

Just complete the form below to entry. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;.

Friday, February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day.
What better way to celebrate than by taking part in a giveaway hop. Read for Your Future and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer have teamed up to host the Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Hop.

My Giveaway is a $15 Amazon or Book Depository Gift Certificate.

To win just complete the simple two items below. Don't forget to hop along to the other blogs participating in the hop. Have a happy random acts of kindness day!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Synopsis: Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s life is set to blow sky high when international murder hits dangerously close to home, in this dynamite novel by Janet Evanovich.Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she’s flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. And a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying.Only one other person has seen the missing photo—Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can. With the help of an FBI sketch artist Stephanie re-creates the person in the photo. Unfortunately the first sketch turns out to look like Tom Cruise, and the second sketch like Ashton Kutcher. Until Stephanie can improve her descriptive skills, she’ll need to watch her back.Over at the bail bonds agency things are going from bad to worse. The bonds bus serving as Vinnie’s temporary HQ goes up in smoke. Stephanie’s wheelman, Lula, falls in love with their largest skip yet. Lifetime arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt moves into Stephanie’s apartment. And everyone wants to knowwhat happened in Hawaii?Morelli, Trenton’s hottest cop, isn’t talking about Hawaii. Ranger, the man of mystery, isn’t talking about Hawaii. And all Stephanie is willing to say about her Hawaiian vacation is . . . It’s complicated.

Source: Barnes & Noble

My Review: I love the Stephanie Plum series, but I have to be honest. I think it is time to wrap up the series. I would love to see Stephanie decide on Ranger or Morelli and move on. I don't know which one I want her to end up with, but it is time. Maybe the next (and last book in the series) could be Nuptial Nineteen and we don't know who she marries until the very end. I felt the book didn't really add anything to the series and it was more of the same thing.

Has anyone seen One for the Money? I would like to see it, since I do love Stephanie Plum, but I haven't' had any time to get to the movies. I like Katherine Heigl and Sherri Shepherd. I would love to know what you thought of the book (Explosive Eighteen) or the movie.